RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

I stopped in at a friends place yesterday on my way home and got some better pictures of this interesting seat setup on their green 25. I have seen a few pictures of what I think is the original option seat for the 25 that doesn't have this extra spring. So has anybody else seen a 25 like this or an original cushion seat for the 25?

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

Hi Wayne, Thanks for the picture. All 25's should have that second spring under the normal one, but I was referring to the secondary spring that goes down to the platform just to the right of the usual spring.

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

Hi Malcolm, I was searching through your photos of the styled 25 and wondered why the difference in the manifolds? I appears like mine is the same at the Wallis type and exits horizontally. Did the early ones have the Wallis type and the later have the more standard upright pacemaker type?

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

Buck,

That is a very nice example of the styled 25 you have there, I am sure you will soon have that one running and restored. Quite a heavy tractor on those solid cast iron wheels, I have ploughed a lot with mine and found sometimes on heavy ground the French and Hecht round spokes slip with three furrows behind, so can understand the idea of the additional weight of the cast wheels, better than just bolting wights onto the wheel.

I am fairly sure your tractor has had a manifold change during its working life, both unstyled green and styled red 25's have all the same manifold with elbow and vertical exhaust pipe set up, this is seen in all the various literature on those models and I must say this is the first 25 I have seen with the Wallis style manifold.

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

Graham,

My red 25 which I imported from Canada had an MIA manifold set up but with the original Kingston carburettor. Ran perfectly OK but I thought it a little bit vulgar. So after years of hunting I finally found a good original manifold set from in Ontario and I have now refitted that and I much prefer the look of it. Now I want some good original heat shields which seem to be as scarce as the manifolds - although Rosewood have started reproducing them now which is a God send and I am in the process of getting one just to have on the shelf as a spare.

Anyone know what was the precise reason for so many of these MIA manifold conversions up in Canada. My 20-30, also from Canada, had a similar conversion with Robin carburettor. I have likewise now converted that back to original.

The MIA manifolds were of course a much more robust item, not as fragile and presumably not as prone to burn out as the originals?

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

John

I think there were several reasons for the MIA manifold to be so popular. I am sure if you hooked a MH 25 on a piece of equipment and worked it for 10-12 hours a day it would not take long at all to burn out the gaskets and warp the manifold and I am sure a lot of these 25 in Canada did not sit still much they were bought to use and they got used.

When you went into the dealer I am sure it did not take much at all to convince the owner that MIA manifold was the way to go if it would put out more horse power and from the looks of the design I am sure it was a lot more efficient than the original. If you look at the air flow pattern in the MIA manifold it was in a much straighter line than the original having to turn a 90 degree angle to get up the pipe. I bet the air flow rate was much better from the looks of it so It is not hard to see how it would give you a couple extra horse power.

The next thing is the price, If the MIA manifold was $10.00 cheaper and would give more power and use less fuel it was an easy sell to the customer. I am thinking the MIA manifolds were like the M&W piston kits that were put in many tractors over the years around here. If you had your tractor in the shop getting rebuilt and tuned up for the season you surely would go with what would give you an edge over your neighbor or competitor so why not.

The MIA manifold must have had a good reputation for being better or cheaper as I have seen these on many other makes of tractors over the years.

RE:Valve Spring Failure on Massey 25

oe,

I would imagine you are absolutley spot on and I have heard the same reasoning put forward in Canada. Has anyone any original info or advertisng on these MIA manifolds - maybe Graham up there in the snow??